The Morning Challenge Campaign

The Japanese government has proposed the Morning Challenge campaign, put out by the Environment Ministry, to decrease carbon footprints in the home. The campaign suggests that people go to bed one hour earlier in order to reduce the amount of energy being used at night.

A typical family can reduce its carbon dioxide footprint by 85kg a year if everyone goes to bed and gets up one hour earlier, according to the campaign.

The amount of carbon dioxide emissions potentially saved from going to bed an hour early was the equivalent of 20 per cent of annual emissions from household lights, “Many Japanese people waste electric power at night time, for example by watching TV until very late,” a ministry spokesperson told The Daily Telegraph.

“But going to bed early and getting up early can avoid wasting electrical power which causes carbon dioxide emissions. If people change their lifestyle, we can save energy and reduce emissions.” The campaign also proposes that people take advantage of an extra hour of morning sunlight by improve their lifestyles in general by running, doing yoga and eating a nutritious breakfast.

Within the past five years the Japanese government has promoted many simple lifestyle changes to help raise environmental awareness. One of the most popular, known as the Cool Biz campaign or Team Minus 6%, encouraged a summer dress code to reduce the energy used for air conditioners.